Chapter 1: Preliminaries to Human Communication

Intrapersonal Communication

When it comes to human communication, an important topic to learn about is interpersonal communication. What this basically means is that you talk to yourself to better learn about who you are, evaluate and persuade yourself about decisions that you have to make, and also to rehearse a message that you will send to others. Intrapersonal communication helps you think, reason, and analyze with yourself.

The following vieo gives you an example of what interpersonal communication looks like. Towards the end of the video you can see how it relates to this topic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aMISACsgXQ

The Competent Communicator

Communication competence refers to both your knowledge and understanding of how communication works and to your ability to use communication effectively. Every individual can improve on their communication skills. It is important to be aware of our actions and behaviors both as senders (encoders) as well as receivers (decoders). Communication competence involves several characteristics. A competent communicator...

• thinks critically and mindfully
• is culturally sensitive
• is ethical
• is an effective listener

Here is a video that demonstrates the benefits of communicating appropriately and effectively:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwjAAgGi-90&feature=related

Elements and rules of communication vary from culture to culture, and it is important to improve our competence in order to function and communicate effectively in our diverse world.

Introduction

My name is Maureen Riley. Very few people call me by my first name, as I prefer to go by Mo. I'm an art history major currently trying to pick up a minor in communications. I would have loved to double major, but unfortunately I didn't have my entire life planned out at the age of 18. I'm a junior, and I'm on the basketball team as well as a member of the honors program at SXU. I work at Blast Fitness in Bridgeview as a personal trainer. It's an awesome job! I love running, coffee, books, FOOD, reggae music, traveling, antiques, libraries, museums, and old things (and people) in general.

I plan on attending graduate school for art history with a concentration in museum studies (or possibly conservation) with hopes of being a curator. I know. Pipe dreams, right? I've heard from countless individuals that I would have a better chance moving to Hollywood and pursuing a career in acting. Or simply working museum security and patiently waiting for one of the curators to fall over and die. Eventually, I want to move into the business side of art involving auction house operations and ultimately art dealing so I can shmooze with super rich people and work on commission. The skills gained through studying communication will be of great value to me in my pursued career path. Hello, my name is Jessica, but I prefer to

Hello, my name is Jessica, but I prefer Jessi. I am currently a senior at SXU, and I am very excited to be graduating in May. I am a Spanish major but not quite sure what I will be doing with that. My goal is to eventually teach Spanish at the high school level; I just hope that I will have the patience for it. At the moment, I am a teller at a bank and doing an internship aside from school. My internship is at a daycare, and so far, I'm loving the little kids. Everyday they have something interesting to share with me.

I am also a mom to my wonderful two year old son, Carlos. He definitely motivates me to continue working hard and brings a smile to my face every day. I enjoy photography (I always carry my camera with me), coffee, listening to oldies, movies, swimming, baking, organizing, and shopping.